Wire-fence fabric.



M'fnesses:

J. E. FREDRIGK.

WIRE FENCE FABRIC.

APPLIUATIOR FILED AUG. 25. 1910.

Patented Dec. 19, 1911.

Urn gys.

JOHN E. FREDRICK, 0F KOKOMO, INDIANA.

WIRE-FENCE FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1911.

Application filed August 25, 1910. Serial No. 578,839.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. FRnnRIcK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kokomo, in the county of Howard, State of Indiana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in ire-Fence Fabrics, ofwhich the following is a specification.

At the present time, there are being manufactured a number of differentkinds of wire fence fabric for heavy service. In general these, fabricsare comprised of continuous longitudinal strand wires and vertical staywires attached to the former either by being coiled around them or bymeans of short tie wires which hold the stay and strand wires togetherat the points where they cross.

Owing to the fact that wire fence fabrics are now being made for veryheavy service, they must be made from iron or steel wires ofcomparatively large diameter in order to secure the necessary tensilestren th.

In order to protect the fence fabric against deterioration b rusting, itis customary to galvanize the lndividual wires before they are woventogether into the completed fabric. During the weaving rocess the staywires must be tightly coiled around the strand wires and this is usuallydone by means of pins rotating in circles of small radius which pressagainst the stay wires to bend them and coil them around the strandwires. It is found that the weaving process deteriorates the galvanizingof the stay wires in two ways: The ins abrade the galvanizing bypressing an rubbing against it, and the bending o the stay wlres sharplyaround the strand wires tends to crack the lvanizing off from the bodyof the wire.

on the galvanizing has once been cracked or otherwise injured, it isfound that moisture gets into contact with the body of the wire and thatrusting then sets in so that finally the body portion is completelydestroyed, leaving only a thin shell of galvanizing. In manufacturingsome forms of fence use is made of short stay wires which have theirends coiled around the strand wires. When these ends are not rotected bygalvanizing they afi'ord points or the commencement of rusting withresults similar to those already discussed. It is found that whencomparatively large wires are twisted very sharply they crystallize.This reduces their strength and elasticity so much that it has beenfound necessa to use very large stay wires in order to u timately securethe necessary strength in the complete fence fabric.

Some forms of fencing are woven in such way that it is difiicult toprevent longitudinal movements of the wires with respect to each otherat the points where they cross. This is articularly true of those formsof fencing in which the strand and stay wires are joined together merelyby the use of tie wires. It has thus been found difficult to producefencing of this type having sufficient permanency for heavy service.

I have found that the first difficulty enumerated, viz: thedeterioration of the fence by rusting, can be overcome by galvanizingthe wires after they have been woven into the fabric. This insures thatthey shall be completely protected at all points. I have also found thatby annealing the wire after it has been woven the crystallizing strainscan be removed. This annealing involves the heating of the fabric to acomparatively high temperature and then allowin it to cool. I havefurther discovered t at by dipping the woven fabric into a fusedgalvanizing agent the wires will be completely galvanized in all theirparts and at the same time they will be heated sufficiently to annealthem and. thus remove the crystallizin strains from them. Therefore, bydipping the woven fabric in a molten galvanizing agent or by passing itthrough a tank or trough of such agent the fabric will be completelygalvanized and the crystallizing strains will be removed from the wiresand at the same time the wires will be soldered together at the pointswhere they cross, thus overcoming the third difliculty enumeratedbecause the stay wires will be soldered or welded to the strand wires atall the points where they cross.

In order to show more clearly the advantages to be derived from passingthe woven fabric through a molten galvanizing agent I will describe morein detail the nature of the cracking or checking which takes place inthe galvanizing if the wires are bent after they have been galvanized,and the nature of the crystallizing strains which occur in the wires bybending them sharply, particularly large wires. It is found that thegalvanizing checks or cracks wherewire is bent especially on the innerand outer faces of the curve. This seems to be due to the fact that thegalvanizing is not elastic enough to stretch on the outer surface of thebend sufficiently to cover said surface after the bend occurs, and tothe fact that the galvanizing will not compress enough to properly coverthe inner surface of the curve after the wire is bent. This causes thegalvanizing to crack or check and peel off at these points therebyexposing the iron or steel wire beneath. Rusting will then set in atthese cracked points and the wire very soon wastes away until it isworthless.

The crystallizing strains which occur when the wire is bent are fairlywell understood. They seem to be due to the fact that the inner andouter surfaces of a wire of comparatively large diameter are compressedand stretched respectively beyond their elastic limit when the wire issharply bent, thus seriously reducing the strength of the wire at thesepoints. The larger the diameter of the wire and the sharper the bend themore serious is the reduction of its strength so that a wire whichoriginally has great strength is seriously weakened by being sharplybent. Therefore in order to obtain a woven fence fabric of a givenstrength it is necessary to use larger wires than would be the case ifthese crystallizing strains did not occur or if they were removed.Therefore the wires of a fabric treated according to my process, thatis, galvanized by submerging in a molten galvanizing agent after thefabric is woven, do not possess the checks or cracks in the galvanizing,and the crystallizing strains are removed from the wires so that afabric results which is perfectly galvanized all over and in which allof the wires are restored to their original tensile strength by removingthe crystallizing strains from them. A fabric is thus produced havingbetter wearing qualities and better able to resist weather conditionsthan one which is woven from wires previously galvanized but notsubjected to a subsequent galvanizing treatment, and smaller wires canbe used to produce a completed fabric of given strength than isotherwise possible. This last feature results in a considerablereduction of first cost because smaller wires which contain a lessnumber of pounds of material can be used in the production of acompleted fence fabric having a certain strength. Also a more desirablefabric results because it is lighter and therefore easier to handle andstring than otherwise.

In order to more clearly show the manner in which the joints of a wovenwire fence fabric are soldered or welded together reference may be hadto the accompanying drawing, in WllIlCl1- igure 1 illustrates one jointof a fence fabric comprising continuous longitudinal strand wires andsectional stay wires linked together at the joint and havin their endscoiled around the strand wire; ig. 2 illustrates one joint of a type offabric comprisillustrates one joint of a fence 'fabric which comprisescontinuous strand wires and continuous stay wires together coiled aroundthe strand wires.

Referring to Fig. 1 it is seen that the stay wires in this case must bevery sharply bent, thus setting up large crystallizing strains in themand greatly deteriorating the weather-proofing coat in case they aregalvanized before the fence fabric is woven. It is also seen that noprovision is made for holding the stay wires from longitudinal movementalong the strand wires except the friction which originally existsbetween them. Therefore this type of fabric is greatly improved asregards all of the features heretofore mentioned by treatin it in themanner herein set forth to pro uce a fabric which is completelygalvanized and annealed and soldered together after completing theweaving process. The coating of weather-proofing, soldering, andannealing material is shown in outline on the joint, and is designatedby the numeral 5.

Referring to Fig. 2 it is seen that both the stay and tie wires will begreatly deteriorated in the weaving process because of the crystallizingstrains cracking and checking the weather-proofing when the wire ispreviously galvanized. In this case also the friction alone holds thestay wires in fixed longitudinal position on the strand wires. In thiscase the weather-proofing, annealing, and soldering material is shown inoutline, and is designated by the numeral 6.

In Fig. 3 all of the wires are deteriorated in the weaving process andany looseness in the tie wire will allow abrasive movements between thedifferent wires. Such abrasive movements will not only serve to wearthrough the galvanizing where it has not already been cracked andchecked but it will actually tend to cut the wire thus reducing itsmechanical strength. The weather-proofing, galvanizing, and solder ingmaterial 7, shown in outline, serves to bind the stay wires and strandwires together, and also to bind the tie wire to both the stay andstrand wires.

In Fig. 4 conditions are very similar to those of the fabric of Fig. 1.In this case the weather-proofing,. annealin and soldering material isshown in out e, and is designated by the numeral 8.

It is thus seen that the treatment of any 130 vention an of theherein-described types of fabric to produce a new fabric which iscompletely galvanized or weather-proofed in every part and which iscompletely annealed to restore its strength and soldered together in allits joints will greatly improve the fabric, and in fact a new fabrichaving new properties and reater strength, weather resisting qualities,and stiffness will result.

Although I have herein shown and described only four types of fabrictreated according to my process to produce a new and better fabric stillI do not limit my invention to such fabrics except as defined in theclaim, but I include in the scope of my inform of Wire fence fabricwoven from relatively large wires which would be deteriorated by theweaving process as heretofore described, and which fabric issubsequently treated to a complete galvanizing or weather-proofing,annealing, and soldering treatment as hereinbefore described.

Where in the specification and claim I speak of stay wires I do notlimit myself to a fabric in which the stay wires are perpendicular tothe strand wires, nor to a fabric in which the stay Wires are vertical,but I include also all forms of stay wires passing from strand wire tostrand wire.

Where in the specification and claim I use such terms as coilinglyattached, coiled about, etc., I include not only mesh fencings in whichthe stay wires as such are coiled about the strand wires, but I alsoinclude in my meaning fencings in which tie wires are coiled about thestrand and stay wires in such a way as to hold them to ether; for it isevident that in either 0 these two cases the advantages of my inventionwill accrue because in either of these cases galvanizing materialapplied to the wires before weaving them is deteriorated, andcrystallizing strains are set up in the wires by bending them sharply,both of which defects are remedied by treating the fabric according tomy new process to produce my new product.

I claim:

A wire fence fabric comprising strand and sta wires of relatively largesize connected y a coiled medium, and a coating of metal applied inmolten condition and fully covering the joints, thereby serving tocounteract the strains due to the distortion of the grain of the wiresin the connecting operation.

JOHN E. FREDRICK.

Witnesses:

EPHRAIM BANNING, THOMAS A. BANNING, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,

by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

